Dev Diary #04

Greetings agents! One last mission update before we have a little break for Christmas.
In this update, we have a couple of big announcements…

Firstly, we hit our next stretch goal!! HOORAY!

That means we now have to fight off not only one big corporation, but three big corporations! On top of that, we now get to battle them in two new locations. AND we get Russell Zimmerman onboard to help with the writing for the game! It is a big stretch goal to hit and we are super excited about it. So, a big thank you goes out to all our backers who helped us get this far and especially those of you who have just joined us, or have upped their pledge to help get this stretch goal!

Secondly, the backer only forums are up. This is a special little place where only backers can go to give your input and vote on the direction of the game. Just head to the forums section of the site and sign in!

District : Industrial

The Industrial District is the supply-hub of the city. Any equipment or supplies coming in or out of city have to go through the docks in the Industrial District. Large piers protrude out above the city levels below where vehicles fly in to dock and unload their cargo. It’s not only a lifeline of the city’s resource, it’s also where you’ll find vast storage warehouses, plants and factories which produce energy and process raw materials to be distributed out to the SciTech District. (We will have more on the new “Grid” District a little later in the project… so stay tuned!)

One of the big things about having funded Satellite Reign through Kickstarter is that we have the opportunity to hear your great ideas and include them in the game! As backers, we want you to help shape our two newest enemy organisations. We want you all to jump on the backer only forums and give us your ideas for the history of these organisations, ideas for important figures in the company, company logos, company names, company mottos.

Below are some rough starting points for the factions, so have a read and give us your ideas! (Keep in mind that nothing is set in stone yet so things may change)

Faction: Red Star

The origin of Red Star is a checkered and bloody one, beginning as a collection of criminal families in Russia.

Each family fought for control over business, land and power for generations. Ever increasing violence threatened to destroy them all, until an enterprising member of one of these families rose to power.

Evgeni Vorsek, head of the Vorsek family, had grown tired of the bloodshed, and in a bold and ultimately decisive move, he gathered the leaders of the other families to set about righting centuries of bad blood.

He presented his goal, to unify the houses and create a dynasty to rival empires of old. While not without its detractors, his vision appealed to the tired and beaten heads of the families, and over the next few years, he began to bring them together under one banner.

As well as uniting the families, he also slowly turned Red Star’s shady transactions into legitimate business opportunities. Their illegal dealings are now behind them, and the families no longer fight amongst themselves, however they are well known for defending their interests if threatened, with the fierceness only a family can possess.

These days, the Red Star (Feel free to suggest alternative names!) have a monopoly over the industrial production of armor and mechs. They also control the transportation and shipping of goods throughout the city and the neighbouring reigns. From canned food to super weapons, if it needs to be moved somewhere, you can be sure the Red Star will be involved.

The beginnings of The Eternals are linked with the rise of Steven Dengler’s company, Dracogenics, specifically when he created the Resurrection technology (we need a cool name for this!). This technology allowed a person to transfer consciousness from one body to another, allowing any who could afford the new procedure to effectively live forever.

Their core belief is in the superiority of augmentations over the frailty of flesh, our physical being a mere husk for the ultimate evolution of mankind. As such, they seek to move all of humanity towards a new enlightened digital era.

They are not so much a company as a movement, or an ideal (some would say a cult), however the sheer volume of followers and the goal of the movement has shaped them into the leading organisation in the field of augmentation research and development.

They revere Dengler as the ultimate goal for humanity; a being who had successfully broken free from the shackles of mortality, replacing flesh with superior augmentations. Though the vast majority of the followers of this newly developed movement could not afford access to the mind transfer technology, they still have the means to strip away their fragile flesh, replacing it with longer lasting metal and wires, bringing them one step closer to eternal life at Dengler’s side.

The Eternals have become a money-making juggernaut, and are the key driving force behind much of the latest advancements in augmentation technology in the world.
Story
Thanks to your generous contributions via PayPal, we’re able to welcome Russell Zimmerman on-board to bring life to the story, in-game dialog and text. He’s already got some great ideas for the backer reward novella, so we’re really excited to see him bring his ideas and talents into the main game narrative.

A big congratulations to our friends over at Defiant who have been successful with their Kickstarter for Hand of Fate. Looking forward to playing that in the coming weeks!

Also, Mitch’s friends from fellow Brisbane developer Commotion Games are about to release their awesome looking game Recruits on Steam Early Access!

Also, King Art Games, who graciously mentioned us during our Kickstarter Campaign, have released their game Battle World: Kronos. To celebrate, they’ve released a great video showing why crowdfunding games is important, and thanking their own backers for their support. So check out the video and Battle World: Kronos on Steam

And we have to give a big thank you to our backer, Blair N, who stumbled across our secret lair and dropped off some chocolates for us… they didn’t last long ;)

We hope everyone has a happy holiday and we will see you all again next year! :D

I suggest 'Rebith' as you're being 'reborn' back into your new body. You also get a double meaning of rebirth into a new body, and since they love to add augmentations, rebirth into a new type of humanity.

I think resurrection is the wrong word here. If the subjects are being uploaded into new bodies it sounds more like reincarnation to me. It also works thematically because reincarnation has often been about returning to Earth, after death, to continue one's self improvement and this seems to fit with the Eternals ideals.
As for names, it could either go techie (Perpetuity Engine) or commercial (The Return, or simply, Reincarnation) depending on the services availability and affordability.

Congrats on the Stretch Goals, it's time to go check out these forums!

Everyone uses Lazarus. I suggest "Back To Life". Not only is it already a song, BTL is also used for something different in Shadowrun, and what are they going to do – sue for trademark violation of their illegal chips? See? An awesome suggestion. I feel so helpful. Maybe I really should head over to those backer forums...